Vanderbilt’s Sweatt, Tansey set for next Discovery Lecture

How epigenetic regulation of gene transcription forms new memories and triggers cancerous growth is the subject of the next Vanderbilt Cutting-Edge Discovery Lecture on Oct. 26.

The lecture by David Sweatt, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pharmacology, and William Tansey, Ph.D., Ingram Professor of Cancer Research, will begin at 4 p.m. in room 208 Light Hall.

David Sweatt, Ph.D.

Sponsored by the Office of the President and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the talk is part of the Flexner Discovery Lecture series.

Epigenetics refers to factors that can change gene transcription (expression) without altering the underlying DNA sequence.

Sweatt, the Allan D. Bass Professor of Pharmacology and professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, studies the molecular mechanisms through which long-term memories are formed and stored. Epigenetic mechanisms for information storage also may play a role in development and cellular differentiation.

William Tansey, Ph.D.

Tansey, professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, will discuss MYC, an oncogene transcription factor that is overexpressed in most cancers. His lab’s discovery of an MYC co-factor has raised hopes for finding new ways to block MYC function in cancer cells.